That change made the difference for Iran on Saturday in their come-from-behind victory over USA: Mehdi Mahmoudi replaced starting setter and team captain Saeid Marouflakrani to change the course of the game

Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 2013 – On Saturday Brazil and Russia put on a great volleyball show in a remake of the Olympic final and once more Russia stormed back from two sets down to edge the South Americans. The result of this game did eventually leave the door open with three teams – Brazil, Russia, and Italy – still in contention for gold at the 2013 FIVB Men’s World Grand Champions Cup.

“Though Brazil may win gold in the end, Russia will certainly have a psychological advantage for they once more bounced back after a slow start to beat Brazil as they had done at London 2012 and this year’s World League Finals” says former volleyball star and two-time world champion Andrea Zorzi.

“Yesterday we really got to see volleyball at its very best” he continues in his review of the next-to-last day of the tournament. “And I think that there is a lesson that we can take from yesterday: Iran and Russia won their respective matches with USA and Brazil after they opted for a couple of substitutions. This means that all players – even those who normally are not in the starting six – can contribute to their team’s quest for glory and help change the course of a game.”

On Saturday Zorzi felt particularly inspired by a statement made by his former mentor Julio Velasco who is currently at the helm of two-time Asian champions Iran. “He stressed that any coach shall like his players even though they may not be the best in the world or exactly those you would like to work with. This is very important: in the end it is all about confidence and any player needs to feel that trust to be able to perform his best.”

Finally Zorzi spends a couple of words also to analyse Team Japan and their performance in the tournament: “I have listened many times their coach and also local officials say that the players have to change their attitude and mentality to make it to the top. I understand that this is a sort of slogan and refrain they would like to repeat but apparently, at least from what I have seen here, it is going to take a very long time for this goal to be accomplished.”